OREANDA-NEWS. March 16, 2007. TVEL to supply fuel to research reactor in Vietnam TVEL, the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear research Center Dalat (Vietnam) March 15 signed an agreement on replacement of highly enriched uranium fuel of the Dalat research reactor with low enriched one. The fuel is to be supplied under the Russian-American RERTR program (Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors), reported the press-centre of  TVEL.

The low enriched uranium fuel VVR-M2 (less than 20% enrichment with uranium-235) is planned to be delivered to the Vietnamese research reactor already this September to replace 36-percent enrichment fuel it uses at the moment. A total of 36 fuel assemblies are to be supplied to the research facility. The new low enriched fuel will make the reactor safer in operation.

Previous fuel supplies under RERTR program were done in 2005 to research reactors of the Czech Technical University and Nuclear Research Center Tajoura (TREWDRC) in Libya.

The VVR-M2 low enriched fuel for the Dalat reactor will be fabricated at one of the TVEL’s enterprises, i.e. the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant.